Suicide-related callouts to fire and rescue services in England have tripled in the last decade, with Samaritans now calling for mandatory training for firefighters, who they say are struggling to deal with the increase in traumatic incidents. New figures show that fire services in England attended 3,250 suicide callouts in the year ending September 2025, the equivalent to 62 callouts a week. This was up from 997 callouts in 2009-10 when records began. Samaritans said firefighters were often among the first on the scene when someone was in suicidal crisis, and despite having to make rapid, life-saving decisions, received no formal mandatory training on how to intervene. Elliot Colburn, public affairs and campaigns manager at the charity, said: “People with this experience are telling us they don’t feel equipped with the training on dealing with someone in suicidal crisis.…